Deputy Chief Whip and Congress MLA from Shahpur, Kewal Singh Pathania, on Wednesday said the Himachal Pradesh Government was taking decisive steps to strengthen the health sector and ensure that people get access to world-class medical facilities within the state itself.
“The vision is clear. No patient should be compelled to travel outside Himachal for advanced treatment. The credit for this goes to Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu for strengthening this vital sector,” Pathania told mediapersons.
He said there was a time when kidney patients had to travel outside the state and were duped by the medical mafia for kidney transplants. There were cases when such patients were taken as far as West Bengal for kidney transplants and were deceived by middlemen.
“If I talk of Tanda Medical College and Hospital, as many as 35 kidney transplants were done during the last six months,” he stated.
Pathania said it was for the first time that robotic surgery had become a reality for patients in the state. The facility has already started at Chamiyana Hospital in Shimla and Dr. Rajendra Prasad Medical College at Tanda. Plans are underway to expand this modern technology to IGMC Shimla and other leading medical institutions in the near future, he said.
He said the flagship HIMCARE scheme was being expanded to cover more people and provide timely relief in emergencies. HIMCARE cards can now be made directly in medical colleges and civil hospitals, and would be issued every year in March, June, September, and December. Special provisions have also been made to provide free HIMCARE cards to BPL families, MGNREGA workers, street vendors, orphans, and jail inmates, he stated.
“Free treatment and medicines are now being provided to cancer patients, while an advanced cancer hospital is being set up at Hamirpur,” he said.
He said the government was equally focused on upgrading diagnostic facilities. Old machines are being replaced in health centres across the state, from primary hospitals to major institutions. “To support this transformation, ₹3,000 crore has been sanctioned for the installation of modern CT scan, MRI, and other essential diagnostic equipment. Recently, a decision has been taken in the Cabinet to engage 200 Medical Officers and 400 Staff Nurses in various medical colleges across the state,” he said. He also said in the Cabinet held on September 15, a decision was taken to fill 38 posts of Assistant Professors in Cardiology, Neurology, Urology, and Gastroenterology in the medical colleges of the state.
While elaborating about the initiatives in the education sector, Kewal Singh Pathania said the government had taken several landmark decisions to strengthen the education system and ensure better opportunities for students. In a significant move, the government has decided that no teacher in government schools, colleges, medical colleges, ITIs, polytechnic colleges, ayurvedic colleges, and nursing colleges will retire during mid-session. Henceforth, all retirements will take place only at the end of the academic year.
Pathania said to improve education standards and prepare students for future challenges, the government had decided to introduce the CBSE curriculum in state senior secondary schools. In the first phase, 100 government senior secondary schools across the state will be affiliated with CBSE starting from the next academic session. Each Assembly constituency will have at least one CBSE school to ensure students have easy access to quality education, he remarked.
He said the government had appointed over 5,400 teachers and more than 7,000 vacant positions had been filled, ensuring better academic support across the state. To optimise resources, schools with very low student strength have been rationalised, with 818 schools closed while 535 schools have been merged.
“The government has also initiated the establishment of modern Rajiv Gandhi Ideal Day-Boarding Schools in every Assembly constituency. These schools will feature state-of-the-art facilities, including libraries, playgrounds, indoor stadiums, swimming pools, solar plants, and rainwater harvesting systems,” he said.
He said the repair and reconstruction of schools affected by natural disasters have been made a top priority to ensure uninterrupted learning for children under any circumstances.
“Looking ahead, from the next session, vocational courses will be integrated into schools and colleges. This initiative is expected to provide youth with employable skills while giving new impetus to the state’s horticulture-based economy,” he said.
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